This is the value wine site!

Archive for the ‘Overproof (white lightning!) ~100 proof’ Category

Sipping slowly with our eyes closed to maximize the pleasure we savor the smokey, smokey smoothness! This is a rare and fabulous treat for us and we live a VERY good life!

Some representatives for a Real Mezcal from Mexico have joined us today. As expected for such a classy organization they are the gracious, warm and as the French say, Tres Elegent!

They have brought us some of the new Mezcal they are producing. As with all new libations we discreetly look at the back of the bottle . . . There it is! The easy way to identify a product the maker is proud of! The erudite essay of manufacture, the love, care and affection poured into each bottle! This label certainly meets the criteria!

We’re on the 5:30 Sausalito Ferry commute from The San Francisco Ferry building. We have short time before the ferry sails and use it to visit a transitory, unique item the Raygun Gothic Rocketship adjacent to Pier 2 and have a glass of wine to prepare us for the trip across the bay.

We board the boat and everyone is impressed by the congenial addition to our commute. We share small tastes of this wonderful elixir (accompanied by the warning at 92 proof it’s 20% stronger than most distilled spirits). Everyone is wonderfully impressed with the sample and vows to purchase. Favorable comparisons are made with Single Malt Scotch!

The addition to our group are charming and amusing and far, far too soon the ride is over and our arrival in Sausalito occurs. We part and with exclamations of joy and gratitude for making today very, very special.

Oh no! A rite of passage! I’m way too old for this (The only one that I thought was positive was when a sweet young thing initiated me to the joys of sex!). I’m working in a mine up near the Arctic Circle and it’s the dead of winter. They tell me they have two seasons – snow and mosquito! After a day at the mine the rest of the crew feel its necessary for the Newbe to Newfie buy them a round at the local watering hole!

We’re to drink from a bottle of Newfie Screech – a vile and strong local brew from the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation. Unavailable in most of the world it drunk in Newfoundland a place of cold, brutal and long winters. The landscape is grey and dreary. To deaden the spirits one drinks to excess. The local tipple comes in cheap plastic bottles (so it doesn’t break when you fall down). One of the more colorful names for it is “Dirty Underwear”, an ingredient supposedly used in the process to give this neutral spirit it’s brown color and recognizable odor.

The rite I am to do is to eat a dried, smoked cod fish and wash it down with a proper amount of Newfie Screech!

I am aware the cod has LOTS of bones so one must take a bites carefully! I nibble all I can, extract innumerable small bones and try to choke down the dry, salty, and extremely fishy mouthful – I can’t! They hand me the bottle of Screech and I swill down the smallest gulp I can handle. I eventually swallow this swill which cause ringing in my ears and my eyesight to go blind . . . cheers are heard in the distance – the ringing makes sounds far in the distance! When my vision clears I see my cohorts laughing. I raise my arms in the football signal for Touchdown . . . Oops! The cod fish goes flying to land across the room with the detritus of peanut shells and sawdust! How tragic, I now won’t be able to finish the cod and drink half a bottle of Screech!

To make sure I’m recognized as a Good Guy I buy the tavern a round and order a couple of Pizzas! I make sure there are 3 pitchers of beer at our table so the Evil Bottle of Newfie Screech will have to await it’s next victim!

How do we pick our wine?

We limit our reviews to 2 categories:
- Wine under $5/bottle
- Unusual liquor
--------------------------------
We select our wine from large retailers of wine:
- Trader Joe's
- BevMo
- Safeway
- CVS and Rite Aid
================
We select 2nd and 3rd tier national brands. We skip big varietals major brands since they have already are well covered. We do make an exception for small runs from a larger winery (such as Sutter Home White Zinfandel)

We try to make sure they are in regular production and not 'excess' from a major vintner which can be a very limited run.
This means we tend towards varieties that are different.

The other item we cover are distilled liquor not covered on other sites. Recently we covered Chinese overproof (100+) white lightning, a raw distilled spirit of questionable provenance. This is not covered. Earlier we covered Newfie Screech, a Canadian distilled spirit made by putting distilled fermented beet juice into abandoned Port and Sherry kegs and leaving on the beach of Newfoundland for several months.

Picking a wine – anywhere, anytime!

Need a bottle for something? Many times I don't speak the language & can't read the label!

Most markets and stores have 300 wines. The clerks' can use a box cutter and a bar code reader.

QUESTION: How can get a decent wine?

ANSWER: - Look for 3 things:

1.) Price! This is IMPORTANT! Scan the selves, look for the cheapest wine and add a couple of bucks. If you want higher end double the number!

2.) Next - heavy or light? - Heavy alcohol is 12%+ and light is 11% or less. If it's cold or a young crowd go heavy, if it's warm or older crowd go light. We're now down to say 20 bottles (some will fall in the middle).

3.) "It Factor" - Look at the BACK of bottle. Is there an essay on the wine, picture of wine maker?) GREAT! The people making are proud of their product! Usually any of these is good.

Eyeball them and pick the one that strikes your fancy!!

========>>> SHORTCUT! Look at people's shopping carts, if you see several people with the same wine - that's likely a good wine!